Letters To Koko

 Hi Koko,  You are growing up. You are having meaningful interactions with people and it is such a delight to watch it. On our latest trip to Calcutta you were full of conversations and thankfully for you no one was shushing you. No one was making glaring eyes at you, "No Koko, not now"; "Can we please talk about this later?"; "I have work"; "Do your homework first"; "Can't you see I am on a call?" - these were distant to you.   You would speak and these people would just lap it up. These people being your grandparents. So with Dadan you were Hippity Hop, the India Jones persona who is an adventurer and detective - solving crimes and saving the day. With Mummum you saw gardening in action - picking lemons right off the plant and having juice is the best isn't it? With Granny, you worked through your Netflix playlist and introduced her to new forms of entertainment. To see you all get along like a house on fire is so awesome. You...

Hi Koko, Surprise plans are the best aren’t they? We came to Calcutta for a very short trip during Pujo this year and I was so looking forward to you enjoying every moment of it.  The only miss from my end was this - I wanted you to enjoy every moment of Pujo just how I remembered to have enjoyed as a kid. Walking on and on till my feet ached, jostling through crowds, sweating in new clothes and having ice-cream and chicken roll with abandon.  Your idea of fun during pujo is so much different from mine, that I am almost heartbroken. When someone asks you what are your plans for pujo, you proudly talk them through how you have chosen a t-shirt for yourself which says “To-do List” and has only one entry  - Nothing, which is checked. You go on to explain to them that that is precisely your plan. You are going to wear new clothes, eat luchi at home and just do nothing, maybe play a game or read your joke book, of course Netflix is always there. But never go out.  Ashtami...